Manifesto
Mail Markup Language seeks to always honor the following objectives. This document is dated 31 May 2010.
- A markup language is a data structure. The first objective of Mail Markup Language is to honor the integrity of its technology identity and structure data in a means that imposes semantic benefits and implies accessibility.
- Semantics is the processes of describing data through formulation of data or meta data relationships, such as node structure. Mail Markup Language will never alter its tag list vocabulary to become more specific if the language allows such specifics to be adequately inferred from the structure supplied in an inference document.
- Media preferences must always be independent and open to choice. Mail Markup Language will never seek to designate or specify a particular format, codec, media, or means for the processing of any media.
- Security must be an expectation and not an optional preference. A security model is established from the start woven into the fundamentals of the language. No modification to Mail Markup Language will ever be acceptable if it compromises or reduces security.
- There does not exist any security model for the inclusion of client side scripting in any vendor neutral medium. As a result client side scripting is inherently insecure. In consideration for the prior point referencing security Mail Markup Language will never include client side scripting.
- A technology specification must be specific enough to ensure reproducibility without error and conformance without question, but never deviate from the specified technologies' intention. The Mail Markup Language will always specify processing specifications to achieve conformance, but will never specify how those processing specifications must be achieved.
- Choice and innovation are imperative operations to both software vendors and end users. Mail Markup Language will always be open to extension beyond the requirements addressed in the specification and will always be vendor neutral.
- Presentation is not a function of a general use data structure. Mail Markup Language will always feature a means to reference an external presentation function, such as a stylesheet, but will never provide any implicit means to specificy or supply presentation.
- Mail Markup Language contains a unique method of separation not associated with the Document Object Model. This means of separation is imperative to properly structure and process an email thread, which is a series of directly related communications contained in a single document. This means of separation will always exist in Mail Markup Language until a different superior and vendor neutral means is achieved.
- Mail Markup Language will never use a patent protection as a means to achieve predatory litigation. Any achieved patent protection will only be used as a vehicle for licensing and in defense of the protected features.
- Mail Markup Language will always remain open to change and revision provided such revisions do violate other terms of this document.